So somehow it’s less than 5 weeks until ultra day- eek! I also found out this week that it is on May 24th not the 25th as I originally thought, which means my parents who were going to come to cheer on the day, now can’t come as they booked to go to Chelsea flower show for the 24th-never mind! Good job I realised, can’t imagine how disappointed I would be to miss it ha!
This week I wanted to get in a really strong mileage week after a lighter week following the Manchester marathon, and it’s gone pretty well:
Mon: Upper Body Weights + 5 mile Walk
Tues: 4 mile Interval Run + 2 mile Walk
Weds: 6 mile Run + Lower Body Weights + 2 mile Walk
Thurs: 12 mile Run
Fri: 3 mile Walk + Hiit Circuit Training
Sat: Parkrun + 2.5 mile Run home + 5 mile Walk
Sun: 20 mile Run
I wanted to start doing some more strength training now I feel almost 100% healthy after the injury. I haven’t had any niggles for the last 3 weeks or so, and I continue to do my stretch/strengthening exercises for 40 mins everyday as maintenance, I really don’t want the issue to flare up again! I restarted Julia Buckley’s Fat Burn Revolution, which I had just started when I got injured last time. I’ve really missed weights, I used to lift 4-5 times a week when I had gym access in Dublin and I really miss that, and think it’s part of the reason why I got injured in the first place.
I reintroduced some speed work for the first time this week as well. After the injury I just wanted to get miles in, and didn’t want to push the body too hard, which was a shame as before the injury I was really hitting some good paces for me on my speed sessions. I did an interval run earlier in the week, and had a blast at Parkrun in Cardiff on Saturday as I really wanted to test the body. I decided to start comfortably and try and increase the pace each mile, which I did, so much so, that by the time I finished I felt really unwell and had to sit in a Tesco cubicle for 5 minutes as I felt really sick. I finally recovered and jogged the 2.5 miles home for a cooldown.
I had a pretty solid midweek long distance run, it was the first time I’ve been over 10 miles since the marathon, and my legs were really tired from the start so that was good practice to run on them. It was also extremely hot, I’m not good in the heat so I wanted to get some practice at getting my body used to running in it, not easy when the weather is so changeable right now.
I had an awesome run today, I set out aiming for 20 miles minimum, and the miles ticked by as I tried to catch up on marathon talk podcasts. I ran pretty much around the entirety of Cardiff, checking out all my old running haunts, and all the sights! It was not warm from the start, but when I got to the Bay it was even worse, the headwind was savage, and it was so cold and windy on the barrage that I couldn’t feel my fingers or squeeze my gel!
I actually felt pretty solid all the way through, I started off slowly, and had a problem with my shin/foot for the first 3 miles, to the point where I was seriously considering stopping, thankfully it went away shortly after and I felt OK for the rest of the run. Unlike in Manchester where I felt like I couldn’t continue after about 18 miles, I felt really strong here and felt like I could have continued for longer- which I would have done had I not needed to stop off home for a toilet break and decided to call it a day at 20 miles.
I really needed that run both physically and mentally, it’s my longest training run this year- having done 18 pre injury, the 20 mile race in Feb after which I got injured and of course the Manchester marathon where I had a bit of a nightmare. I have the Milton Keynes marathon in 2 weeks and I just needed that little boost to make me believe I can go the distance and restore a bit of the confidence that Manchester had dented.
I’ve spent the rest of the day cuddling with Timmy who isn’t our cat but practically lives in our house, and begun to put a dent in the Easter chocolate.
Going to aim for another solid mileage week this week, probably drop it a little from this week, and hopefully get some more speed-work in too.